200 years ago,
slave traffic became prohibited in England.This was the first victory of a campaign that made the
British Empire one abolitionist force who would later, extinguish the Atlantic slave trade.It had count on an unprecedented popular participation, which became the largest public opinion campaign in the western countries before the XX century.The struggle against
slavery was based on four bases.Religion: the twelve friends who created the Slave Trade Abolition Society, were connected to religious institutions.Anglicans,Quackers and Protestants. They organized boycotts to every slave made products and in 1787 Thomas Clarkson achieved that 300 thousend people stopped consuming Eastern Indian sugar in protest against slavery. Women: though they hadn''t the right to vote, they played an important role in this fight. Women had their own institutions, like Birmingham Female Society and they had their unique methodes of propaganda. The radical Elisabeth Heyrich published in 1824 the pamphlet called "Immediat and not Gradual Abolition". People Initiative: pressuring the Parliament to vote for the negroes rights, the abolitionists delivered several
petitions in the House of Commons. About 170 petitions per year between 1788 and 1800 , and then about 900 in the year of 1810. Totaling (till the end of slavery time in England in 1833) over 5000 petitions with hundreds of signatures each one. Propaganda: pamphlets showing the reality of the situation shocked the
population in general. The exposure of the tools used to torture and arrest the slaves appaled but also enlighted the population. It is believed that the abolitionist campaign won this
fight because the british colonies were in decline. However it''s known that the end of slavery had harmed the british economy and still they made to recover from it and followed its course. Today it''s proven that this campaign was a huge cultural phenomenon.
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